


Everyone is gone but I will still bring you home

by Thetalkingcherry



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst and Feels, Gai is Kakashi's rock, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, and tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29378115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thetalkingcherry/pseuds/Thetalkingcherry
Summary: After a successful AMBU mission, Kakashi comes back wounded, with no team, with more blood on his hands and ghosts in his head and triping through Gai's window.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Comments: 1
Kudos: 45





	Everyone is gone but I will still bring you home

**Author's Note:**

> Just some angst and feels in a short fic.
> 
> If you want to scream about these two you can do it with me on Tumblr!  
> You can find me as @ justanotherdayontheenterprise ( ͡❛ ᴗ ͡❛)

The mission had been successful.

As AMBU, Kakashi did not need to even knock on the office of the Sandaime. The reports of this caliber were thrown to the AMBU guards outside the Hokage’s office, as efficiently and discreet as possible, the mission report would then be given to the Hokage. A seal protecting the scroll kept curios eyes away.   
If the scroll had a black mark, it meant one or more members of the team had perished while on the mission. Nevertheless, as AMBU, the objective was clear: Finish the mission at all costs. A finished mission was a successful one, it didn't matter who was lost during it. And Kakashi had finished the mission. He has also lost his team.

“ _Again...”_

The word kept being whispered in his head by the voices of Obito, Minato, Rin and all the AMBU shinobi he had seen die on the battlefield.  
  


It had been a retrieval mission, Kakashi had left the village with a team of three, all of them experienced shinobi, older than Kakashi. He had worked with them before.   
As the Captain, Kakashi had debriefed the three of them on their objective. He had carefully crafted a strategy to retrieve the stolen scrolls and hunt the three rogue nins that currently had them.

According to their intel, they had two scrolls, one from Konoha and another from the Hidden Mist, meaning that Shinobi from the Mist were also after them, and just as Kakashi’s team, they didn’t just want the scroll belonging to their own village.

It was imperative, as explained on the mission defrief, that they got both scrolls and killed the rogue nin before anyone else did, specially the shinobi from the Mist. The bodies would then have to be burned, in order to eliminate all evidence of who had disposed of them. 

Finding the rogue shinobi had been easy, after all, they had left their used weapons at the site they had stolen Konohagakure’s scroll, scent still fresh.   
Their speed and hiding tricks were no match for Kakashi and his Ninken.

The complicated part had been defeating them.

Now, Kakashi had analyzed their objectives’ Bingo Book entries, two were Suna and the third one was Mist, two with earth affinity and one with water affinity. Kakashi’s earth and lighting affinity would be complemented by Rabbit’s fire, and Deer and Monkey’s water affinities. Kakashi was not worried about that. At 15, he had managed to master them along with close to 500 Jutsus he had copied in his missions with the help of the Sharingan.

The problem here was the fact that Mist’s Black Ops had also arrived at the encounter and they had a clear goal that not only involved retrieving the scrolls: Kakashi.

As Captain at AMBU, Kakashi’s only superior was the Hokage (Danzo was there somewhere but after his failed assassination attempt, he had kept himself as away from Kakashi as Kakashi had kept him, although Kakashi had a feeling it wouldn’t be for long), he was aware that one of the reasons why AMBU rules deemed imperative to never let oneself be caught was the secrets that shinobi like him carried, and in Kakashi’s case, also his jutsus and Sharingan.

Kakashi and his team were ready to fight the three Rogue nins but none of them expected to fight four Mist hunters that had waited for the three enemies to be defeated before they decided to attack and trap Kakashi next.

Rabbit, the oldest and most experienced of the four of them, had understood the Mist shinobi’s intentions even before Kakashi did, and had barked orders to protect a now exhausted Kakashi, who was more than angry at his subordinate for defying Kakashi’s orders to retreat, taking the scrolls with them back to Konoha.   
After all, Kakashi knew he could manage; if he was captured, he would destroy all evidence of himself, and if he was incapable of doing so, then he would be tortured and finally killed when the enemies discovered he was not going to say a word.

But Rabbit had not barked the orders as Kakashi’s rogue subordinate, neither had he attacked the Mist Shinobi’s out of sole loyalty to his captain.

When a broken Kakashi arrived at AMBU he was given a sword, a uniform and a mask. On his first missions he had followed the orders of Rabbit who had shared his food, given him his blanket and had let Kakashi sleep beside him inside his sleeping bag when the cold of the snow was too much for the 12-year-old. All of this had been disguised as orders from his Captain, but Kakashi knew better, he knew that Rabbit was actually worried about him, not regarding his set of skills, of course, after all, he had showed them he was more than capable of being in AMBU, as much or even more than all the other, way older, shinobi of his team. No, Rabbit was worried about Kakashi like any older brother would be of a 12-year-old kid that had the blood of more people on his hands than actual family.

So, when the mask fell down and Kakashi saw the face of Rabbit yelling at him to finish the mission, Deer and Monkey dead already somewhere beside him, Kakashi managed to grab both scrolls and jump out of the way, far enough to not be engulfed by the flames of the explosion that Rabbit had created. Big enough to take the Mist shinobi and the bodies of the other fallen ninja with him in the fire.

When he got to the Hidden Village, Kakashi could barely stand. He had been wounded by the debris of the explosion and, while it had not been a big wound, the fact that he was losing blood, combined with his low chakra levels made his legs tremble with every step. His heart ached, his mind begging him to scream, to cry, to let the pain out, the voices of the ghosts shouting at him.

As AMBU, Kakashi did not need to even knock on the office of the Sandaime, but Kakashi had not written a report yet, his head pounded and his mind had been too busy reminding him of the blood, of Rabbit’s face, to focus on writing. 

He delivered the scrolls and gave his spoken report to the Sandaime, his calm voice and stoic face didn't betray the emotions and pain bubbling inside of him. The man had ordered him to visit Konoha’s Medical Center before dismissing him and Kakashi had bowed respectfully before leaving. 

He did not go to the hospital. His feet dragged him home instead. Home. That was a strange word, but he couldn’t be alone, not now. He had to, but the shaking of his body grew, and he needed, he needed…

The window opened easily, sometimes Kakashi worried that Gai was way too trusting for his own good by leaving his window unlocked or perhaps it was because he was tired of Kakashi always breaking the locks.

He got inside the apartment, a happier, more colorful version of Kakashi’s own, and promptly tripped. He couldn’t focus. The pain on his right side combined with the pain in his heart and the throbbing of his head and left eye, was too much and _shouldn’t you be used to it by now? Used to failing your team?_ _To loosing everyone?_

He coughed and pain exploded behind his eyelids, he tore the porcelain mask away, letting it fall to the floor. Gai was not home, the apartment was dark and empty. He tried to get on the bed, but he fell again. He was so tired.

After what felt like hours, he heard the noise of the door opening and heavy steps approaching along with the scent of Gai. There was a shocked gasp and then the smell got closer. Kakashi opened his eye, the tears making his sight blurry, but he could see that green jumpsuit and the ridiculous orange leg warmers Kakashi had learned to love.   
He tried to lift himself from the floor, calling for Gai but before he could, he fell again, lights swimming before his eyes before they left him in blissful darkness.

There was blood on the window, Kakashi’s fingers were drawn with the red thick liquid across the glass and on the table next to it. The floor was also stained but all Gai cared about was the thin figure in front of him. He held him close, frantically searching for a pulse as he yelled his name, taking the arm protectors and the heavy AMBU armor off and away from Kakashi. The blood seemed to come from a big but not deep wound on his Rival’s right side. His pulse was steady, even if his breathing had been accelerated before he fell back to the floor when Gai saw him.

Gai carried him to the bath, it was important to disinfect the wounds as soon as possible, getting his emergency med kit on the way. Judging by the state of Kakashi’s clothes, he had not cleaned the wound or even put a bandage on it for as long as it had taken him to come come, that on itself was strange, even if he disliked hospitals and strong medications, Kakashi was never reckless enough to leave a wound unattended, he would always take care of them in an efficient way before carrying on doing whatever mission he needed to accomplish. 

All the Jonin apartments had their own bath, and Gai was grateful for that, he knew his rival wouldn’t appreciate being cleaned at a communal bath.   
He got inside, holding Kakashi. Gai had removed his rival’s shirt and pants with as much care as possible, almost laughing with happiness when he realized the wound would only need four stitches at most. He poured antiseptic on it, Kakashi didn’t even stir, and got to work. When he was done, he put the tools away and opened the shower flow, making sure the water didn’t hit Kakashi until it was warm. He took off his jumpsuit, leaving them both in their underwear and he carefully cleaned the wound, sitting on the bath, letting the spray of the water fall now mostly on Kakashi, the younger boy’s back to Gai’s chest.

Even as Gai cleaned his face, he made sure to avoid looking at the bottom half of his Rival’s face. Kakashi had never really told him not to look but he had also never given Gai permission to, and he respected his rival’s wishes and privacy. Gai cleaned the grime from his face and continued by washing Kakashi’s hair, he had put a towel over the now stitched wound to avoid the pressure of the water to hurt him or even open it.

Gai sighed. It had been a while since his rival had fallen unconscious in his apartment, still, Gai noticed that the number of times Kakashi had arrived from a mission stumbling and covered in blood had increased in the last months. Kakashi would shut down afterwards, even more so than usual, always keeping everything inside.   
Gai did not care about mission details, he knew all of Kakashi’s missions were S-Ranked so even if he wanted, the younger shinobi couldn’t speak a word to Gai about them. No, he wanted to listen to Kakashi, to help him get all that pain away, to remind him he was loved and cherished, that his life was worth so much more than just a mission, that he needed him to come back home, that Gai would be his home.

He dried them both, wrapping Kakashi’s wound with bandages and dressing him up in Gai’s night clothes, discarding the wet underwear away to wash it later. He put him in his bed then, Gai’s softest pillow under his head and covered him up to his nose with a blanket.

Cleaning the blood was easy, and when he was done, he checked on his Rival, his breathing was now steady and calm. Gai fell asleep sitting on the floor next to the bed.

He was awoken by whimpering and shuffling, Gai got up in an instant, his complete attention on Kakashi trashing on his bed. “Rival, it’s okay” He reassured him, trying to hold him still with as much care as he could muster, if he continued moving, he would tear at the stitches.

Kakashi kept mumbling and whimpering and Gai felt tears start to fall down his own cheeks at the sight.

“Kakashi, listen to me, you are safe, I am here” That seemed to do it, the younger shinobi opened his glassy eyes looking up at Gai who slowly caressed his cheek, trying to wipe Kakashi’s tears away. The red of the Sharingan distracting Gai momentarily.

“I am here, and you are safe” He repeated, but Kakashi didn’t seem to be listening. More tears fell and his voice trembled as he spoke.

“Gai?” He asked for him, his voice rough with sleep. Gai nodded, his other hand making his way to Kakashi’s arm. “Yes, rival, I am here!”

Kakashi shook his head, whimpering again “No, no, no, not you too” He cried, his words slurred. “Please not you”

He started trashing again and Gai quickly held him down, getting on the bed and wrapping his arms around Kakashi. Gai was panicking now, he knew of Kakashi’s nightmares and panic attacks, he had even seen them before, but they were never like this. He touched Kakashi’s forehead, he was burning up.   
His body started to shake as he stopped trashing and moving frantically.

“Don’t leave, don’t leave” Kakashi sobbed, tears falling down, both eyes closed, his hands clutching at Gai’s shirt and arm desperately. After a moment he seemed to calm down, letting go of his grip on Gai. 

Gai held him, Kakashi’s face hiding inside his neck, and cried freely now.

That night he made a decision, he needed to get Kakashi out of AMBU and when he did, he would bring him home.

**Author's Note:**

> Characters and original story belong to Kishimoto. This work was NOT made for profit, only entertainment.


End file.
